Remote ISTE 2011

Remote ISTE 2011 is a one day program that brings the ISTE annual conference from the convention center in Philadelphia to a group at your site (or to your desktop). Delivered in conjunction with the annual ISTE Conference, Remote ISTE is a program that breaks the conference center walls and brings the action to you.

From Philadelphia we will share a keynote address, an in-depth workshop, concurrent sessions and a little of the flavor and experience of walking around the convention center (posters, playgrounds, lounges, exhibits, etc.).

Produced by ISTE and the special interest group for interactive video conferencing (SIGIVC) the program employs a number of distance learning technologies and demonstrates best practices for using those technologies.

There are two ways of participating. You can get together with a group of your colleagues and connect from a central site. Getting together as a group allows you to discuss the topics being presented and build your personal learning network.

If you’re unable to travel to the conference or a remote site, you can also participate individually using your computer and broadband Internet connection. Here you will have a chance to experience the program and interact with others across the continent and across the globe.

Before the day of the program you will have on-line resources available to you to introduce you to the ISTE Conference, the program and your fellow participants. The on-line resources will be available to you for two weeks before and after the conference.


Technology

If you attend at a group site, most of the interactive and video technology will be taken care of for you. Bring a laptop computer to participate in the workshop, visit the on-line resources, tweet the conference, etc. The video and audio for your group will be presented in your meeting room.

If you are participating individually, you will need a computer capable of running a web conference application (Elluminate Live!, Adobe Connect, etc.) and broadband Internet access. You will also need speakers or comfortable earphones or ear-buds. Your audio and video will be presented through your computer.


Day of the Event

Group: Travel to your group site and find the meeting room (auditorium, classroom, conference room, etc.). Meet the facilitators and the other participants. Get ready to watch, participate and learn. Expect to learn through lunch. Bring your own lunch or, if you’re lucky, lunch may be provided for you. The program usually runs from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm give or take an hour on either end depending on time zones and content.

Individual: Get on-line with the web conference in plenty of time to insure a good connection. Make sure you can hear through your speakers or that your headphones/ear-buds are comfortable. Keep your lunch nearby so that you can munch when you’re hungry. The program may not have a lunch break. The program starts around 8:30 am Eastern daylight time and runs about eight hours. Interaction with other individuals and the facilitators will be via text chat in the web conference.

After the program, please fill out the participant survey/questionnaire. Your feedback helps us improve the program.


Schedule

The schedule for the day varies from year to year. We adapt the schedule to the time zones of the conference and the participants. Typically the schedule includes:

  • Keynote Session - features a unique perspective on the conference theme from nationally or internationally respected presenters.
  • Workshop – is a three hour presentation featuring a more focused, in-depth exploration of content. At the ISTE conference workshop enrollment is limited and preregistration and additional fees are required.
  • Concurrent Sessions - takes place in a meeting room with a formal presentation station and a seated audience. Length is one hour unless otherwise noted. Most concurrent sessions are lecture style with one or more presenters, each of whom address the audience independently. Content is of high interest and widely applicable to the broader ISTE audience. Content is designed to educate, inspire, challenge, and/or provide specific implementation ideas. For a particular project or initiative, the focus is on replicable ideas, e.g., what works and under what conditions rather than an historical or detailed account.
  • Posters, Playgrounds, Lounges and Exhibits (PPLE, pronounced ‘people’) – outside of meeting rooms and auditoriums the ISTE conference provides different opportunities to learn about educational technology. Remote ISTE works to give participants a flavor for some of these alternative venues.

The theme of the ISTE 2011 Conference is “Unlocking Potential.”


Web Site
(Also refered to as: asynchronous, online resources, pre/post conference, Moodle, etc.)

If you are planning on attending the ISTE conference in Philadelphia, you will probably spend some time before the event planning your strategy to get the most out of conference. The Remote ISTE web site will be a place for Remote ISTE participants to learn more about the: Remote ISTE event; the ISTE conference itself; meet other participants at your site (or individual participants). We will have guides to the ISTE conference web site, exercises to “plan” your schedule; treasure hunt; etc.

The purpose is to introduce participants to the conference, the event and pre-conference events and planning. The expectation is that exposing people to the breadth of content and opportunities will encourage them to attend the conference in person in the future. Also, we will demonstrate best practices in asynchronous distance learning (content, activities, discussions, assessment, etc.)


Group Sites

You want to bring the ISTE Conference to your school, district, region, support center/unit, county, organization, etc. Great idea. You’ll need to have an organizer responsible for the entire program (planning, marketing, registration, logistics, technology, etc.). You’ll also want to have one or two facilitators (educators) to facilitate the group interaction during the program and a different person responsible for the technology.

You provide ISTE with a list of your participants and ISTE will provide you with login information for the Remote ISTE web site (asynchronous). For participants, logging in to the web site before the program is optional and not required. However the material and content participants will find there will help them prepare for the live program. The web site will be available for a number of weeks after the day of the live program.

You’ll need a room to hold your group and access to specific technologies. Sites need H.323 video conferencing (Polycom, TANDBERG, Lifesize, etc.), projectors, speakers, computers, etc. Depending on the size of your room you may want additional microphones, room audio, etc. We will use web pages, H.323 video conferencing, web streaming technologies. From time to time we try to incorporate other interactive technologies (polling, web conferencing, etc.).

Typically there is not much time for lunch. You should encourage your participants to bring lunch. Some group sites provide lunch for the participants.

Participants will need access to a computer. If you are not meeting in a computer lab then participants should be encouraged to bring a laptop. You should expect to provide power and (wireless) Internet access for the participants. Web content filters often provide challenges for the program.

The technology team (your site and Philadelphia) usually use Skype or some other chat type program to communicate with each other.


Individual Participants

As an individual participant you will register for the Remote ISTE event. You will receive login information for the Remote ISTE web site (asynchronous) and the Remote ISTE web conference (synchronous/live) service. Logging in to the web site before the program is optional and not required. However the material and content you find there will help you prepare for the live program. The web site will be available for a number of weeks after the day of the live program.


Price

There is typically a fee of $40 to $60 per participant. In the past, some group sites subsidized or paid the fee for their participants. This fee covers the cost for the content and the technology. There are no additional fees from ISTE for this program. Participants are not required to be ISTE members, however membership is encouraged.


Recruiting

We'd like you to join our team!

  • We're looking for an assistant producer. You'll help the producer with all aspects of the production.
  • We're looking for an event (stage) manager who will run the event from tech rehearsal through rehearsal and the "show."
  • We are looking for a tech director who will design, plan, test, run and troubleshoot the technology (video conferencing, web conferencing, streaming video, course management system, etc.) for the production. (SIG Interactive Video Conferencing?)
  • We are looking for a manager of Group Sites who will be responsible for marketing, registration, and liaise with the remote group sites.
  • We are looking for a manager of Individual Participants who will be responsible for marketing, registration, and liaise with the individual participants.
  • We are looking for a manager of the on-line pre-conference and post-conference components (SIG Online Learning?) (example http://moodle.esc11.net/vtc/)
  • We're looking for a manager of the "PPLE" sessions (poster, playground, lounge, exhibits) (SIG Arts Educators?)


Poster, Playground, Lounge and Exhibits (PPLE)
(Also known as walk-around, etc.)

The PPLE activity is designed to give the remote participants a flavor of the activity going on around the convention center outside of the meeting/presentation rooms. In short (10-30 minute) blocks we show off the poster sessions, a SIG playground, one of the lounges and the vendor exhibit area. PPLE sessions include a description of the place, questions from the remote sites and possibly interviews with local (Philadelphia) conference attendees or presenters.